Teenage Girls and Bundt Cakes
by jlopie
Summary: A Cautionary coming of age tale - A perfectly chill Friday night. Time for some daddy/daughter bonding, right? Except...someone has become a teenager, and someone else is struggling to deal with the ramifications! Oh, and a certain SEAL hasn't got a clue how to help his partner! Not as light hearted as it sounds. Does include light whump and a whole lot of angst!
1. Chapter 1

**TEENAGE GIRLS AND BUNDT CAKES – A Cautionary Coming of Age Tale**

 ** _A/N Hi, everone, it's been a rather long while! Sorry about that..._**

 ** _This story arose from a conversation (a year ago...yeah, I'm a slow writer!) about Gracie Williams and what kind of a teenager she would become. The show was long overdue in aging the character of Grace to represent the age of the actual actress portraying her. So, I tried to do that with this piece. Of course there's whump, but I warn hard core whump lovers that this is pretty mild. It's more about the angst associated with this particular incident in the life of Danny Williams._**

 ** _BTW: This story is complete, fully BETAed by the great Wenwalke, and will be updated regularly._**

CHAPTER ONE

He found himself, once again, jogging down the corridors of Tripler Hospital, looking right, and then left into every cubicle in the emergency room, one hand constantly resting on his gun holster. He wasn't quite sure what he was doing here, or what had befallen his partner. His niece had called him out of the blue on a Friday night, tears evident in her distraught voice, to inform him Danny was at Tripler. He dropped what he was doing – which amounted to exactly nothing but polishing off a six pack of Fire Rock while watching American Gladiator – and raced the Silverado down the H1, with its lights flashing and siren wailing, to get to his partner's side.

" _What did you do this time, Danny? Did you fall out of the tree in the front yard? Don't tell me you started trimming it yourself? You were going to forego hiring a tree expert because "$400.00 to trim a few branches is just ridiculous," especially when you had a ladder and a chainsaw of your own – oh, God! Chainsaw! Tell me you didn't go there! Crap, did you cut your leg? Do you still have ten fingers?"_

Tonight's argument was completely one-sided as Steve's mind automatically went into worst case scenario mode because, well, let's be honest, Danny was an injury waiting to happen. It was true; he was always getting kidnapped, shot, stabbed, gored, blown up, buried alive, tortured … just one thing after another. It's as if he was the handsome bull in the stadium constantly provoked and attacked by the matador, cheered on by the angry horde of crazed spectators shaking cattle prods and demanding blood. No sooner would he get well, than trouble would start all over again for his partner.

It was usually Steve's job to pick up the pieces and put his friend back together at the end of the day. He was good at it – he'd had lots of practice – but that didn't make the stress of each situation any easier. It always tore him apart to have to tell Grace her Danno loved her! The nights spent waiting in the uncomfortable recliner in his partner's hospital room were countless. But he knew he would continue to sit by Danny's side, he would do whatever it took to make him whole again, because he just couldn't imagine a world without his cantankerous partner in it. Of course, he'd never admit that to Danny.

In most instances, Grace was able to understand and accept every injury and trauma Danny suffered. It was a fact of life for her, and as long as he made it back to her, she was always okay. Tonight, though, Steve heard something different, strained, in Grace's voice, precipitating the high speed run down the H1 to get to the hospital. What did it mean for Grace to sound so sorrowful?

" _I'm going to have to have a talk with Danny about all the mental trauma he's made his daughter suffer through during the years of his sojourn on the Five-0 team. Maybe a little therapy would help – look how much better the two of us get along since starting partner counseling! Well, maybe that isn't exactly true, but I'll talk to Danny about it for sure, if I ever find him in this cavern of a hospital…"_

All those thoughts flitted across Steve's mind in the course of the couple of minutes it took him to locate Grace, sitting alone, in a drab, tan-colored plastic chair, anchored to the side wall of the hallway. Doctors and nurses were busily hurrying past her position - important tasks awaiting their attention – not bothering to take in the appearance of a dejected 13-year-old, waiting alone for word on her father.

Steve slowed to a walk when he saw Grace sitting forlornly in the hall. She was slouching in the ugly chair, her legs twined around the sturdy front appendages of the seat, with her head resting against the wall behind her. She was studying the ceiling, a frown marring her features, oblivious to Steve's arrival. In fact, she looked a thousand miles away in thought.

" _Shit, this can't be good,"_ Steve thought as he knelt beside the young girl. He reached out and gently placed his large, rough hand on Grace's smooth forearm. He didn't want to startle her, or make her fearful – his partner would not be happy with him, at all, if he upset Danny's pride and joy – but he needed to get her attention centered on him.

"Grace?"

Nothing. Grace continued to stare at the ceiling. Steve's heart leapt into his throat as he began to fear what her display of ambivalence might mean. Was she all right? What the heck happened to Danny to make Grace this sad? He took a moment to look her over for any injuries, but saw nothing obvious. Noticing a tear start to fall down her cheek, he decided it was time to take action. He stood, moved directly in front of her, put his hands on either side of her face, and gently lowered her head to meet his gaze straight on.

"Grace, are you okay?"

Big, sorrowful brown eyes welled up, her eyebrows scrunched down, while her lips pulled into a sad frown. Grace's overall appearance was one of complete dejection. Finally, she nodded her head slowly, focusing her eyes on Steve's troubled countenance. "I'm okay, Uncle Steve. Nothing happened to me. But… but… this is all my fault!" With that, the dam broke. The sobs rent her petite frame and she covered her face completely with her hands, while bending over almost to her knees.

"Oh, Grace! Oh, honey, it's okay! I'm here now. Don't cry!" Steve reached in and pulled Grace into his embrace. Standing up for better balance, he allowed her to wrap her legs around his waist, and her arms to encircle his neck, nearly putting him into an effective stranglehold. She might be almost 14 years old now, but tonight, she needed the comfort of a full body hug.

He just held her, letting his niece cry freely. It was the release she needed. Now that someone she loved, and trusted, was there to take responsibility for her father's care, Grace didn't need to be the stoic young lady any longer.

Steve was still at a loss, though, as to what had happened to cause so much grief for his niece.

"Grace, honey, can you tell me what happened?" He set her back down in the ugly plastic chair and squatted before her. Grace snuffled for a time, wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands, and, accepting a tissue from the box Steve found on the end table alongside the chair, proceeded to blow her nose. Finally, she looked up into Steve's eyes, and then lowered her head to stare at the tissue in her hands.

"We were baking," she started.

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	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Yes, there was a blatant shout out to all the wonderful Danny whump stories that have preceded this little entry in the first chapter!**

 **Shall we find out what Danny got himself into this time?**

 **Disclaimer: Still working on it...**

"Baking?" Steve wasn't sure he had heard correctly, "Grace, you and Danno were baking?" He saw her slight nod, and continued, "What…what were you baking, honey, and…why?"

Visions of returning home to burning frittata on his stove aside, Steve tried to remember eating something that Danny might have baked himself, and came up blank. The perplexed look on Steve's face had Grace nearly in tears all over again. She squirmed in her seat, trying to find a way to put into words what had happened that evening at home. In her mind's eye, she was back at the dinner table. Danno had served up her favorite chicken with sun-dried tomatoes dinner.

 **Earlier Friday night -**

" _What do you think, Monkey? Is your Dad still the "best cook ever?"_

 _An exaggerated sigh and an unenthusiastic shrug was all that greeted Danny's remark._

 _Grace had reached that awkward age._

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Danny's week had been hellish at work and he was ready to relax and enjoy his precious time with his daughter on this rainy Friday night. He didn't get to see Grace nearly as much as he would like anymore. She was thirteen now, and in junior high. She had tons of friends and a lot more offers for sleepovers and trips to the mall, or just spending time on the beach with friends.

Danny knew it was inevitable; had, in fact, been expecting the slow but inexorable pulling away from him that had begun once school was back in session. Classmates were reacquainting themselves with each other, and flexing their growing personalities. They were eighth graders now – at the top of the food chain, the "owners" of their school. They were looked up to with awe and respect, and just a hint of fear; a rite of passage to be enjoyed for an entire school year. After graduation, it was a long, unforgiving slide down the pole to the bottom of the pecking order that is freshman year of high school.

Grace was not immune. She was indeed growing up and starting to leave her dear old dad in the dust. She was enjoying being more independent – her mom gave her more freedom now that Charlie had frequent doctors' visits, which Rachel needed to keep. She had new friends and had even gone on a group "date" to celebrate the end of summer vacation. She hadn't told Danny the whole story with that one – he thought it was just a trip to the mall and a movie with a bunch of classmates, when, in fact, it had morphed into a coed sleep over at a girlfriend's beachfront house!

Grace was popular, no doubt about it. She had been talked into running for class president, and had won the position easily; but holding a class office demands leadership and responsibility. Being "popular" can be a heady feeling, but it also invites anxiety - the fear of not being able to meet the expectations others place on you. Grace was finding out just how hard it was to maintain her place as the "It girl" in her class, and the stress was starting to manifest itself in her frequent mood swings and heated outbursts of the Williams' family temper.

Of course, she had to keep up the appearance at school of being cool, so her dad, the one person she had always been able to be herself with, had been feeling the full force of her emotions. She wasn't demonstrative in her affection anymore, frowned more than laughed, rolled her eyes at his suggestions for activities that she used to love.

Danny was proud his daughter had been elected class president, but he was worried about her recent change in demeanor. Obviously, Grace was entering the teen years, and all the mystical, magical changes – thanks to those lovely hormones – that she was about to experience, made Danny very happy that her mother was back on the island full time. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with her moodiness, though. Maybe she just needed time to work things out for herself, and he had decided that he would spend as much time with his daughter as his work, and her schedule, would allow, just to let her know that he was always going to be there for her. He also hoped that she would open up to him about all these changes going on in her life.

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"So, Monkey, anything special you want to do this weekend? There must be a movie we can agree on to see together?" Danny fished for some sort of acknowledgement of his presence in the same room as Grace. He didn't exactly get the enthusiastic response from his daughter he had hoped for, though.

"Dad, please! I'm not a monkey, and I've already got plans. Tomorrow's the first football game of the season and I'm cheering, then I'm going surfing on the North Shore with Sophie and her family on Sunday." Grace blandly leveled the verbal spear at her father's heart with her short, nonchalant reply.

Nonplussed, Danny scowled at his daughter. He was hurt to the core by his daughter's rejection of his pet name for her, and found himself lashing back.

"And just who gave you permission for this little surfing excursion?"

"Mom, of course!"

Grace did look at her father then, with a tiny little smirk on her lips. She was now at the age where it was proving interesting to pit her father and mother against each other. She knew her parents were embarrassed and secretive of the time they had spent together a few years back, before Charlie was born, and being a smart girl, she thoughtfully put two and two together after the sex education class at school. The sight of her dad turning a bright shade of red, and sputtering out that Rachel had no business giving her permission to traipse around Oahu with someone else's family on HIS weekend, almost got her to laugh out loud, but her innate sense of self preservation stopped her before she truly brought the wrath of Danny down on her head.

Grace's phone began to chirp at that exact moment. The "Bieber" ringtone announced that Sophie herself was calling. Glad to have a reason for leaving the room, she waved to her dad and hustled off to her bedroom to take the call from her best friend.

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Danny had calmed down, realizing he had blown things out of proportion again, and was well on his way to a clean kitchen when Grace sidled back into the room. She appeared deep in thought, and Danny wondered what the phone conversation had been about.

"Grace, is everything okay?"

"Fine. It's all fine," Grace quickly acknowledged with a very small smile, but then she fell silent, staring distractedly at the bowl of apples sitting on the countertop.

"I haven't solved over a hundred homicide cases in my time as a detective not to be able to tell when something is bothering you, Grace. You know you can tell me anything, right?" Danny was anxious for Grace to let him in.

With an overly dramatic sigh, Grace told her dad about the bake sale set for the next day at the school's football game. "I'm responsible for it because I'm the class president. Sophie just called to say she can't bring the cakes she said she could because her mother suddenly has to leave the island to care for a sick relative on Molokai. Her mom makes Bundt cakes to die for, Dad! They always bring the best money at bake sales. I don't know where I'm going to get replacement cakes. My classmates are going to be ticked off at me for not doing my job!"

Grace had worked herself up into a near panic attack, leaving Danny startled and bemused at the intensity of the apparent crisis. He didn't understand how a couple of Bundt cakes could make the difference between a highly successful bake sale, or the end of life as we know it, but he certainly recognized a full-blown Williams rant when it was thrown in his face. A rational rebuttal was not the ticket to a successful outcome!

Being as diplomatic as his Five-0 skills had taught him to be, Danny calmly started to interrogate his daughter.

"Grace, what bake sale are we talking about here?"

"The one the 8th grade class puts on every year at the first football game of the season to raise money for our Homecoming dance. I'm sure I've told you about it, Dad."

Unnerved inside at the second use of the impersonal "dad," Danny tried to calmly assure his daughter that indeed, she had NOT told him about the bake sale, or the football game the next day - or even about this Homecoming dance set sometime in the future. "Grace, I don't think you told me about any of these plans for this weekend…"

"Oh, Dad, it doesn't even matter! It's all going to be a humongous disaster now, since Sophie's mom can't bake the Bundt cakes! Our class won't make enough money to put on a cool Homecoming dance, and my friends are going to hate me!" Overcome with the picture she had painted in her mind's eye of this turn of events, Grace started sobbing, "If I was home this weekend, Mom would bake them, or she'd have her housekeeper do it. But no, I have to be stuck here with you. You can barely stick a frozen pizza in the oven and have it turn out edible!" Her words ended on a wail that had Danny wincing from the ear piercing shriek. He watched in utter amazement as his beautiful, smart, kind daughter turned into a blubbering, shaking, mean-spirited wreck of a human being. What was going on? Better yet, what was he going to do about it?

He could call his mom for advice. She was a fabulous cook, and Grace adored her molasses cookies, but he just didn't feel like answering all the questions about his personal life that would certainly evolve out of a simple request for a Bundt cake recipe! She was always fishing for details of his ongoing relationship with Amber…er…Melissa. Why did he have such a hard time keeping her name straight, he wondered? Since he wasn't sure what, exactly, he was feeling about her at the moment, Danny chose to avoid questions and leave his mother in blissful ignorance.

Speaking of Melissa, she picked a great weekend to tour Mauna Kea on the big island with her visiting friend from New York!

He thought about caving in and calling Rachel. She was the best option, by far, but it just dug at his soul to have to admit to his ex-wife that there was something in regard to their daughter's upbringing that he couldn't accomplish at least as well as her mother could. Hence, he came to the only remaining conclusion – he would bake these spectacular Bundt cakes himself!

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Rolling up his sleeves, Danny set his mind to figuring out how he was going to accomplish this baking project. If it worked out, he'd score some much needed brownie points with his daughter, and maybe he could salvage the rest of the weekend.

"Get Sophie back on the phone, Grace, and have her send you the Bundt cake recipe. We are going to make the most spectacular Bundt cakes ever seen at that school of yours and your class will be singing your praises forever!"

"I don't know, there sure is a lot of batter in this mixing bowl, Grace."

Danny was sure he'd measured the flour and sugar correctly, and cracked in the right number of eggs, but once he'd added the liquid and mixed it all together, he seemed to have an overabundance of batter. Sure, he'd doubled the recipe in order to make two cakes at once – he'd seen his Mom and sisters do it a million times – but his two pans didn't look at all like they could hold this much batter.

"Do we have the right size?" Danny picked up each Bundt pan and tried to read the size imprinted on the aluminum bottoms.

"It's fine, Dad. Just pour it in! We've got to mix up the frosting, too, you know!"

Grace was losing what little teenage patience she currently had. She'd lost interest in this little project, since, as her mother liked to say, with exasperation, "Grace! You have the attention span of a gnat!" She wanted to go back to her room and call Sophie so they could talk about the cute boys on the football team, but Danny wanted to make this a "bonding" experience. She tried to tell him if they hadn't bonded by now, it was a lost cause, but he would have none of it.

"Grace, honey, this is fun! Spending time together in the kitchen, talking about the day, making plans, this is bonding for grown-ups!"

Danny was trying his best to get Grace involved in their project, but it just wasn't working. While he did all the measuring and mixing, she sat at the kitchen island with her head over her phone, typing away and emitting loud sighs whenever she looked up to see how far along with the Bundt cakes her dad had come. She was making it pretty obvious to Danny that she was bored silly.

"Okay, okay! Hold your horses." Danny was finally getting tired of Grace and her attitude. He divided the batter evenly between the two pans, but once again began to fret the fact that the batter was about to run over the top. He didn't think that was right, something about "no more than two thirds full" pricked his memory from his Mom's cooking lectures to his sisters, but Grace was chattering again about having to hurry up and get this done, so he gingerly placed the pans in the oven, not worrying about the batter that slurped over the sides in the movement.

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 _"Baking's not so hard! The kitchen smells great!"_ Danny had poured himself a cup of coffee and was enjoying an article on the New York Giants prospects while waiting for the timer to go off.

"Hey, Dad," Grace called from the living room. "I need to be at school at 10 tomorrow morning, so Sophie's dad is picking me up at 9am and we're going for breakfast at Rainbow Diner.. Okay?"

Tossing aside his magazine, Danny managed to control his voice as he walked out to the living room.

"No, Grace, that's not okay. I thought we – meaning you and I – could have breakfast together. I'll get you to school by 10am."

"Dad! I'm going with Sophie and her father. It's all arranged."

"No, it's not arranged at all." Danny was inwardly seething. How had he become someone so easily tossed aside? Why couldn't his daughter want to spend time with him?

In his next breath, Danny was left wondering who had stolen his beloved Grace! Standing before him was someone he suddenly didn't know. She might look like the little girl who was his pride and joy, his whole reason for living, as he frequently informed his partner, but at the moment, this creature was a raging wildcat. Tossing her hair in pure "drama queen" fashion, she stomped her foot, hurled a pillow in Danny's direction, screamed that she "hated him," and ran down the hall, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

Her befuddled father stood like a statue anchored to the floor – arms outstretched, shoulders hunched up, eyebrows arched in surprise. It seemed like déjà vu, like the old days when Rachel got mad at him. While he was attempting to figure out what had just happened, a tendril of smoke started to curl its way around Danny's senses. It permeated his nostrils, awakening him to the fact that something smelled wrong, something smelled…burned!

"Oh, no! No, no, no!"

All senses finally firing, Danny raced into the smoke filled kitchen, grabbing a pot holder off the counter top on his way to the stove. The last thing Danny saw with any clarity, was a flash of intense light as he opened the oven door.

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	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"The smoke alarm suddenly went off and I heard Danno yell my name! The…the way he said it…I knew something was really wrong. When I opened my bedroom door, I could see all the smoke…" Grace's face scrunched up as if she could still smell the burnt cakes, reliving the frightening situation all over again. Steve squeezed her hands gently, nodding to her to continue.

"I ran into the kitchen, but I couldn't see Danno through the smoke. Flames were shooting out of the open oven door, and … and … cake was everywhere! I heard Danno yelling at me if I was okay. I didn't know what to do, but then I saw the fire extinguisher on the wall next to me. I grabbed it, but I still couldn't see him! Grandpa taught me how to use a fire extinguisher last summer when I visited in New Jersey, so I just did what I remembered. I aimed the extinguisher at the flames and squeezed."

Grace was staring at her hands, turning them over and over in her lap, almost as if she didn't recognize them as her own. Finally looking up, she nearly broke her uncle's heart with her tear-filled eyes. Her voice dropping to a whisper, she continued, "When the smoke cleared a little, I could see Danno. He was sitting on the floor alongside the oven."

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"Grace! Grace, baby, are you okay? Is the fire out?"

Feeling as if every nerve in his face and neck had just been jolted with electricity, the intensity of the pain Danny was experiencing took his breath away, but he had to make sure Grace was okay. He had no idea what had just happened, didn't care, as long as she was safe.

"Grace! Answer me!" The longer it took for Grace to acknowledge her dad, the more anxious he got. Finally, he heard her crying, but she still said nothing. He tried to stand up then, until a wave of dizziness forced him to slide back down to the floor.

In as soothing a voice as he could muster, Danny called out, "Grace, it's okay, sweetheart. I'm fine."

He literally jumped when he felt a soft touch on his arm, and heard her quavering voice in his ear. "No, Daddy, you're not fine. We need help. I'm going to get my phone." With that, Danny sensed Grace get up, and heard her run out of the kitchen.

Breathing a sigh of relief that she was okay, he took a moment to assess his own situation. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he found he couldn't stop shaking." _Not good,"_ he mentally noted. His throat constricted then, and he coughed up phlegm. The pain was ratcheting up, as well, but what really stopped him dead in his personal assessment, was that, try as he might, he couldn't open his eyes. It felt as if his lids were glued shut! Gingerly touching his face, he could feel fluid-filled blisters on his forehead, cheeks, chin and neck. His eyelids were puffy and tears were streaming down his face. _"What a fine pickle you've gotten yourself into, Williams. I didn't even need my pet Neanderthal's help this time."_

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During the course of her monologue, Steve slipped into the neighboring chair, never lifting his gaze from Grace's face. As concerned as he was for his partner, at this point in time, Steve was equally worried about his niece. Never before had he seen her look this shattered. Grace had always taken her father's near tragedies in stride. Hell, she'd survived her own kidnapping without any lasting effects. But this young lady sitting beside him now was a mess, and Steve wasn't even sure why!

The one thing he did know, though, was that it was time to get some answers about his partner's condition.

Commander McGarrett determinedly strode down the hallway to the reception area for Tripler's Emergency ward. His was an intimidating visage, quite often found to grace this particular station. Because he was so well known, doctors, nurses, aids and orderlies mysteriously vanished into doorways or patients' rooms, as the man, with a young girl in tow, pulled up to a stop in front of the head ER nurse. When she didn't immediately look up from her work, Steve cleared his throat in preparation to begin a question as to Danny's whereabouts in the hospital, but she held up a hand to stop him, and, without looking up from her monitor, said, "He's in Treatment Room 4. I'm sure you can find your way yourself. Don't harangue my staff on your way down the hall."

Bristling, Steve was about to come back with a quick retort when he felt Grace tug on his hand and start down the hall towards Treatment Room 4. Swallowing his words, but bestowing his SEAL glare on the unflappable nurse, he allowed himself to be guided away from the station.

As they approached her dad's room, Grace's steps started to slow to a crawl. She hadn't seen her father since the ambulance ride, and she'd been made to sit in the front seat, so she didn't even see what the paramedics were doing to him.

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 **Previously at the Williams' residence** -

Grace made the 911 call, and then hurried back to her father's side. He was wheezing now, and tears were leaking out of his swollen eyes. The red blisters she'd first noticed on his face and neck were full of fluid and looked like they were close to popping. His blonde eyebrows and eyelashes were singed and brittle-looking, and he didn't even open his eyes to look at her. Taking in her father's general appearance, it suddenly dawned on her that her dad couldn't see.

Danny heard his daughter's gasp, and he rightly assumed she was back in the kitchen, and that he didn't look so hot to her.

"It's okay, Grace. The paramedics will get here soon, and I'll be fine," he said, trying to comfort her as best he could, but thanks to the effort to talk, an intense tickle in his throat sent another painful cough wracking through his chest. He figured he must have inhaled a few flames when the fire belched out of the oven door. Oh, yes. He remembered what had happened now! The Bundt cake batter had, indeed, oozed over the top of the pans, which obviously were too small for the recipe, dripped onto the hot oven element and started burning. When he had inadvertently opened the oven door, he'd fed the fire with fresh oxygen and …kaboom! The fire flared, the cakes exploded, and his mug was in the wrong place at the wrong time. God help him when Steve finds out about this!

Cool water suddenly flowed over his inflamed face and eyes.

"In First Aid class I learned that if there's an eye injury, you should pour water over the eye to flush it. Does that help, Danno?" Grace had filled a water bottle she found in the sink and gently poured a stream of water over her dad's head.

Danny shuddered with the shock of the cold water on his face, but as it soothed the feeling of intense heat, he sighed deeply. "That feels wonderful, Gracie."

He was never so proud of his daughter than at that moment. She was scared, but she was able to use her brain and remember what she had learned to help him.

The ambulance ride was uneventful, at least for Grace. Riding in the front seat, she didn't see the concern on the faces of the paramedics working on her dad. His burns had been checked and his eyes flooded with saline, and although his eyes were still swollen shut, they were not of immediate concern to the EMTs. His vitals had deteriorated since being loaded, with his blood pressure dropping, and his O2 levels bordering on unacceptable. Danny definitely became more uncomfortable and restless as the trip progressed. Obviously, some lung inflammation was involved, but luckily the ambulance arrived at Tripler before any intubation was required. Ignorance was bliss for Grace. But things changed upon arrival at Tripler.

Holding Danny's hand as the paramedics wheeled his gurney down Tripler's stark, institutional halls, she sensed he was struggling. He tried to reassure her by squeezing her hand, but Danny was noticeably having a hard time getting enough air in with each breath. When the gurney reached the treatment room, he pulled her down to his lips and with a raspy effort, uttered only two words, "Call Steve." She made to go into the room with him, but a nurse (the infamous emergency charge nurse) restrained her in the hall.

"Your father's in good hands and you'll be in the way in there." Turning her around and sternly pointing down the hall to the sitting area, she went back into the room. Grace's last view of her dad as the door swung closed, was of a doctor putting bandages over Danny's eyes. The sight shattered her resolve to be brave, and an overwhelming urge to run away almost took her feet scurrying out of the hospital doors. But she was a Williams, after all, and Williams' weren't likely to give into fear and shirk their duties. Doesn't mean they couldn't be scared silly, though! She wandered down the hall, found a chair, and pulled out her phone to call her Uncle Steve.

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 _"What if Danno can't see? What if he'll be blind forever? What will he do? What will I do?"_

It felt as if an eternity had passed, sitting alone in Tripler's emergency corridor, with no one interested in the young girl's plight. Thus, left to her own devices, crippling, dangerous thoughts raced through Grace's head on a continual loop. Not really understanding what had happened in the kitchen, she just didn't know how bad her dad was hurt, but her teenage brain fixated on Danny's damaged eyes, and she envisioned all the worst case scenarios imaginable. What would it be like to never again see Danno's crinkly blue eyes laughing at some silly face she made? How would he feel if he never got to see Charlie play baseball or… or even get to watch him grow up?

She knew her dad, and she knew it would be unbearable for him to go through life sightless. He loved to drive his Camaro. He loved watching her cheer! He adored his television, especially when his Giants were playing on ESPN. Now, with Charlie, there was so much he had planned to do with him, too.

It wasn't fair – why did this have to happen to her now, when she was just about to get to high school, learn how to drive and start dating, and … and that's when it hit her like a ton of bricks falling from an earthquake-rattled skyscraper.

"NO!" Grace felt her world tilt with her sudden realization. She furtively surveyed the hospital corridor, fearful that she had drawn unwanted attention to herself. But no one appeared to have taken any notice of her, leaving her to wrangle with her dark thoughts alone.

"I did this to him. I'm the reason he's in the hospital now. He was baking those silly Bundt cakes to make me happy. Danno gets hurt all the time in his job, but he's saving other people's lives doing it. He shouldn't get hurt doing something for me. I've ruined his life forever!"

There were no tears. She couldn't cry. Grace was in shock over her sudden, overwhelming guilt that Danny's accident was her doing. She had zoned out everything around her, and all she wanted to do was make it all go away. She never heard Steve arrive, never heard him call her name.

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	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: A thousand apologies! I had trouble posting this chapter last night, and today I've been away from my computer all day! FanFiction and I have a love/hate relationship. Maybe someday I'll get it all figured out. In any case, this is the chapter that FanFic said was posted, but really wasn't. Hope you can forgive, forget and enjoy!**

CHAPTER 4

Steve had to slow his march to his partner's treatment room in response to Grace's sudden planting of her feet. He turned a questioning glance her way, but the look he saw on her face disconcerted him to the point where he literally stopped in his tracks.

"Grace? What's wrong? Let's go see you dad."

"I…I…I can't!" Terror filled her entire being, and Grace finally gave in to it. She pulled away from her uncle and tore down the corridor as if a hound from hell was hard on her heels. Just before the end of the hall she found the girls' bathroom, burst through the door and out of Steve's view. Grace ran into the nearest stall, locking it behind her. Finally, her legs gave way and she sank to the cold, checkered tile, sobs once again wracking her body.

She just couldn't face her father. He would never forgive her for being the cause of his blindness, and she didn't blame him.

Steve watched Grace stampede down the corridor in utter surprise. He had no idea where this had come from. Grace had always been willing to visit her father in his hospital room, sometimes to the consternation of her mother and the hospital staff. Danny had even chewed him out a few times for letting his daughter see him in less than perfect father mode, but Grace had handled the visits well, and her presence at his bedside had always helped Danny recover faster.

 _"What's this about_ ," Steve wondered. Unsure of what he should do, he took a step after Grace, but stopped and turned back towards Danny's room. He'd have to worry about Grace later, as now he really needed to see how Danny was doing. Stopping a young nurse who was walking past him, Steve spoke to her, "Excuse me, my niece just ran into the bathroom at the end of the hall. She's upset about her father being here, and I wonder if you could keep an eye out for her? I need to see how her father is in here, but I'll be back out for her soon."

"Of course, Sir, take your time." The woman smiled and headed towards the bathrooms.

Still thinking about what could have caused Grace's meltdown, Steve nonchalantly pushed open the door of Treatment Room 4.

He was completely unprepared for what greeted his entrance.

"Hey, Danny, are you alri…," Steve stuttered to a stop mid-sentence, and mid stride, as well. Expecting to see his partner sitting up and getting some antibiotic cream slathered on a few mild burns, he was completely unprepared for the unexpected sight before him, and be able to register what he was seeing. Danny…he was pretty sure it was Danny…was stretched out on the examination table with a bevy of hospital personnel hovering over him. His shirt was unbuttoned and laid open, with multiple electrodes attached to his chest and snaking out to a number of machines spitting out all kinds of unintelligible readings. His face and neck, what Steve could see of it beneath an all-encompassing oxygen mask, was bright red and covered with nasty-looking blisters.

As Steve got his bearings and stepped further into the room, he finally understood Grace's uncontrolled fear – he found himself looking down on his partner's face and suddenly feeling that same emotion.

 _"Oh dear God! Jeez, Danno! How does this always happen to you?"_ Composing himself, Steve grasped his friend's hand laying on the table and calmly and quietly let his partner know he was there. "Danny, it's Steve. I'm right beside you. I've got your back now, Babe."

He felt a strong squeeze of his hand, and knew that Danny was awake, even though his eyes were swollen shut and weeping fluid down his blistered cheeks and around the sides of the oxygen mask. Steve knew exactly what Danny wanted to say as he watched his friend try to take off the mask and bat at the nurse's hand which firmly secured it back in place.

"Danno! Danno, listen to me. Stop fighting the nurse. She's okay. Grace called me and I came right over. She's, uh, she's waiting in the hall." Steve wasn't sure yet what was going on with Grace, but he knew enough not to let on to Danny that something was definitely not okay. "I don't think now is a good time for her to come in here, do you?"

Danny firmly shook his head "no", which was exactly what Steve expected. Relieved that he was going to have some time to sort things out with Grace before Danny started asking for her, he was suddenly informed by one of the nurses that Mr. Williams was going to be admitted and that he would have to step out to the waiting area while the patient was taken to his room.

Probably due to the shock of seeing his partner so messed up, Steve was irrationally irked by the nurse's use of "Mister." "Detective. It's Detective Williams. Five-0. His friends call him Danny, but I don't think you've earned that familiarity yet, do you? I'm Lieutenant Commander McGarrett …"

"Yes, Commander. Everyone here is well aware of who you are." The troublesome head nurse had slipped into the room unobserved by Steve. "In fact, I might dare to say everyone in this entire hospital knows who you are. And no, you cannot stay with Detective Williams now. He has to be transferred to his room, and when he is situated, you will be told. Now, don't you have a young girl to take care of?"

And just like that, Danny was wheeled out of the room, raising his hand as he went to bid Steve good bye.

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Once again, Steve was left wondering what had happened to his partner. He raked his fingers through his hair and decided, "No more Mister Nice Guy." Before he could face Grace again, he had to have something to tell her about her father. He was going to get straight answers from someone in the next few minutes, or a strategic phone call or two would be made. Before he could take a step in the direction of the nurses' station, though, he felt a warm, firm touch on his shoulder.

"Commander McGarrett, let's step back into the room, please."

Steve turned to find himself face to face with a very attractive woman in a white lab coat. Even though she was tall, slim and well-built, with long, dark brown hair pulled away from her face into a low ponytail cascading down her back, he was immediately drawn to her warm smile and compassionate dark eyes. It dawned on him that she had been one of the coats working on his friend a few minutes ago, thus sparking his desire to get some answers.

"What can you tell me of my partner's condition?" Steve demanded, not very graciously.

The woman's eyes softened even more, if that were possible, and taking Steve's elbow, she guided him back through the door into Treatment Room 4.

"Commander, I am Dr. Kacy Gardener. I was the resident on call when Mr. … Detective…Williams was brought in. He was in severe respiratory distress on arrival, and was taken into this treatment room immediately."

"Fine, now tell me how …" Steve tried to cut the doctor's speech short, but she simply smiled at him again, and continued speaking.

"Detective Williams was the victim of an oven explosion. When he opened his oven door, the fresh outside air caused the already burning contents of the oven to flare into flames that seared the detective's face and upper torso." Noticing the color draining from Steve's face, Dr. Gardener guided him to a stool. "Please, Commander, sit down before you fall down. Your friend actually looks a lot worse than he is."

Steve found that last sentence a little hard to believe. "Doc, he looks terrible!" Steve punctuated his statement with a fling of his arm toward the abandoned gurney. "Please, just tell me, how severe are his injuries?"

Dr. Gardener raked Steve with a composed, but calculating appraisal, finally returning her gaze to his scowling countenance. "Well, I must say I was feeling pretty pleased with myself to think the rest of the hospital staff thought I was the best person to talk to you…now I understand I apparently had to go through a rite of initiation!"

Steve was taken aback by her statement. He didn't have a clue what the doctor was talking about, and at this point he really didn't care one bit. As he was about to launch into another tirade, Dr. Gardener held up both well-manicured hands in front of her.

"Commander, I'm sorry, I understand your impatience to get answers, but it seems everyone in this hospital has an aversion to being in the same room as you, and since I'm the newbie, they chose to throw me into the den of lions. Now, I have a feeling, if you're with me here, we can work through your impatient aggression and make some progress in understanding Detective Williams' condition. So, to begin, I was led to believe that you have seen combat. Commander, are you familiar with flash burns?"

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Steve was all too familiar with flash burns. One does not spend time as a Navy SEAL on active duty and not experience explosions belching out heat and flames. He'd seen what it could do to the human body, seen the aftermath. Bodies blackened to the point of appearing inhuman; legs bent at the knees, arms drawn up at the elbows and wrists curled under; hands looking like a raptor's claws. He could remember the awful smell of burnt flesh and crispy, shriveled hair. A small line of perspiration broke out on his forehead as he relived the particular mission that culminated in a successful, but gory, take down of a targeted enemy thanks to a direct hit.

Dr. Gardener realized too late that she was terrifying the man in front of her. She uttered her apologies, quickly continuing, "Commander, Detective Williams has sustained 2nd degree thermal burns due to a sudden, brief exposure to flame. The burns are restricted to his face, neck and upper chest..."

"2nd degree, that's just the skin layer, right?" Steve interrupted, trying to latch on to some glimmer that might alleviate his current fears.

"Correct, Commander, 2nd degree means the top two layers of skin have been burned. That is why his skin has formed blisters and is quite red. Actually, Detective Williams will heal well from the burns, as apparently his daughter, I believe, poured water over his face and neck before the EMTs arrived. That helped to cool down his skin and prevent further damage to the cells."

Steve smiled slightly, rubbing his hand over his face to relieve the tension he felt. "Grace, Danny's daughter, is a smart cookie. Wait, what about his eyes? Does he still have vision in both eyes?" Steve quickly lost the moment of reprieve, suddenly reminded of the bandages he saw covering Danny's eyes.

"Ah, yes! An ophthalmologist specializing in thermal burns has been called in, and will visit with Detective Williams tomorrow, but right now, it appears the only problem is that the eyelids have swelled shut thanks to the blast of heat. We have covered them with light gauze to keep them protected. As I said earlier, Commander, Detective Williams' injuries look a lot worse than they are.

"Now, the good detective is not completely out of the woods, Dr. Gardener cautioned. "He has suffered some burning to his esophagus from inhaling flames. Currently we have him on intravenous steroids to try to keep the swelling in his throat down, but he's been having some difficulty breathing. If it becomes necessary, we will intubate him."

"Jeez, he'll hate that!" Steve could just picture Danny fighting that one. He'd been intubated before. He had to be sedated thanks to his claustrophobic reactions, and it had taken Danny weeks to get over the raw, sore throat he'd suffered from.

"I understand, and that option is strictly a last resort. Hopefully we can avoid it. If you like, you can go up to his floor and wait until he is settled in his room, but I strongly recommend his daughter not see him at this point. Tomorrow he will feel a lot better."

"Thank you, Doc. I appreciate you talking with me. I…uh…I'm sorry I was so short with you, and … apparently the rest of the staff." Steve gave the beautiful doctor a very sheepish grin. "It's just that, Danny's like a brother… no," Steve looked down at the floor, trying to evaluate his thoughts. Searching for the right words to express his feelings, he eventually continued," Danny IS my brother. He's had my back on countless cases, and he's been at my bedside for innumerable sleepless nights in different hospital rooms. I …uh… tend to get a little crazy when I'm worried about him."

"Well, then. We'll just have to make sure he gets better quickly so you won't be worried any longer than necessary, and the stalwart hospital staff can come out of hiding in the storerooms." Dr. Gardener patted Steve's knee, briskly walking out of the room, leaving the bemused commander to stare after her incredulously.

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	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: 1)In atonement for my mishandling of the posting of Chapter 4, I'm trying to make up for it by posting a second chapter tonight! Aren't I a good person! You guys don't need to answer that.**

 **2) Thank you again for the faves, follows and comments! It never ceases to amaze me that people actually take the time to read what I write! Truly a great incentive to keep going. If you're a guest, I appreciate your comments, too, just can't tell you so in person! Keep them coming, though!**

 **3) This chapter is dedicated to Topazicatzbeth. Here's to Jasmine, my friend!**

CHAPTER 5

"What kind of trouble did our boy get himself into now?" Lou had quietly appeared in the 3rd floor hospital waiting area, much to Steve's relief. Since having found Grace sitting at the nurse's station, with a bottle of water in her hand and a sweater thrown over her shoulders, Steve had been unable to get a word out of her.

Yes, she nodded, she was all right. No, she shook her head, she was not hungry. Did she want him to call her mom vacationing on the mainland? An indifferent shrug was all he got.

He was at a loss. Throwing his gaze around the confined station, his eyes locked onto the charge nurse's intense stare. She was watching the little scene play out before her with a disapproving scowl, etching lines into her forehead and around her eyes. Well, Steve didn't need her judgmental glare just then.

"Come on, Grace, let's go on up to your dad's floor." Giving the head nurse a final, backwards glance, he ushered the silent girl to the elevator to take them away from the Emergency wing.

By the time Grover had arrived, Steve had gotten Grace to lie down on the small couch and close her eyes. At first her breathing was fast and laced with small sighs, but after a few minutes she'd settled into a genuine sleep. Letting out a long exhale, Steve realized he'd been holding his breath, watching her, waiting for her to finally give in.

"Thanks for coming down in the middle of the night, Lou," Steve said, rubbing his own eyes hard.

"No problem at all, Steve, but what the hell happened? Is Danny okay?" Steve had only told him over the phone that there had been an accident at Danny's home earlier in the evening, and he had been hospitalized.

"Yeah, actually, Danny should be fine. He's sleeping now. He's got 2nd degree burns on his face and chest, but the doctor says those will heal. He did fry his esophagus a bit – that's what they are the most concerned about – they might have to intubate him for a while if his oxygenation levels don't improve."

"Better pray that one doesn't happen," Lou was only too aware of Danny's claustrophobic tendencies, as well. "What about this little missy?" he continued, looking at Grace's curled, sleeping form.

"I can't figure it out, Lou. She's more upset about her dad's accident than she's ever been with all the other injuries he's gotten through the years on the job. She won't talk about it, keeps saying it's all her fault, and then bursts into tears all over again. I don't know where to begin. She needs her father, but the doctor won't let her in to see him until tomorrow, and I agree. Her fragile psyche won't be able to handle the way he looks right now. I hope if she gets a good rest she will have calmed down enough to come see him."

"What can I do to help, Steve?"

"Can you take her home with you, Lou? Her mom and step dad are off island for a few days, and I really need to be here when Danny wakes up. I think maybe Grace would be best staying in a home with a real bed, real food, and some semblance of normalcy, and besides, Renee..."

"Renee is just what the doctor ordered! She's got a "way" with kids. She'll make Grace feel safe and cared for. Who knows? She might even get her to open up about what's bothering her so much!"Lou was obviously very proud of his lovely wife's nurturing abilities.

"Thanks, Lou," Steve sighed. He felt relief that Grace would be at a safe location, one that his partner would be happy with, but he continued to feel he was missing something important in tonight's events. He helped Lou rouse the groggy young girl and pack her into Grover's car, which happened to be parked in the handicapped zone right outside the front door of Tripler.

"Don't give me that look, man! I didn't have a clue what I was driving to, so I parked in the first available space, and… huh…"

Leaning over the SUV's hood, Lou pulled a slip of paper out from under the windshield wiper. Slowly turning to look at his smirking boss, he shook the ticket at Steve and smoothly crooned, "You'll be taking care of this tomorrow, now, won't you, Boss?"

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By five o'clock in the morning, Steve had given in to his exhaustion. Danny was out for the count, thanks to the heavy doses of sedatives circulating in his bloodstream. Earlier, Steve had worried about his partner's breathing, it had seemed to be getting more labored as Danny moved around, but his night nurse had reassured Steve he had probably been having a dream in his sleep. His breathing evened out again after the nurse injected more lorazepam into his IV. Steve almost wished he could share a bit of the good stuff himself, but after jumping up off the chair to bend over Danny's bed every time he shifted, only to find him still sleeping, Steve simply sunk into the uncomfortable chair cushion and nodded off into oblivion.

 _He was floating, his mind meandering in a gray fog through the most recent events in his life, finally latching on to…a cake? "What's this Bundt supposed to look like, anyway," he wondered? Suddenly a vision of delectable delight formed in his head. Perfectly round and domed, with an alluring circular tunnel inviting him into its taste bud bliss, slathered with piles of blush pink buttercream, a lovely silk dahlia flower protecting the hollow cave he was being lured towards with its promise of deliciousness. He was mesmerized with its perfection. Grace's voice floated towards him. "Oh, Danno! It's perfect! I'm going to be the best class president ever!"_

 _He was so happy, his monkey was pleased! Gleefully he reached out to touch the masterpiece, but just as he was about to caress the perfect Bundt, the vision before him morphed into a scene of absolute horror. The beautiful cake was suddenly reaching for him with tendrils of flame. The heat! It was so intense he felt his skin bubble, and his hair fizzle."Grace! Get back!" He frantically called out, but all he heard in response was his daughter's laughter coming at him from the center of the cake, inhuman and dripping with sarcasm. "Look what you did, Dad, you burned it. It's ruined! My school friends will hate me. I hate you! Hahahahaha!"_

 _Cringing from the voice and twisting from side to side to get away from the flames, he sobbed out in despair, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to ruin your bake sale!" His throat felt as if it would liquefy from the heat. His breath was leaking out of his lungs with nothing there to replace the lost air. Looking around for something to quench the flames, he saw her standing there before him, and he reached out his arm to her. "Baby, help me!" Grace, his beautiful, loving Grace, sneered and turned away from his struggle, disappearing without another word, into the murky blackness beyond his vision._

 _"I'm sorry," he tried to call after her, but his breath was shattered, his voice, a relic of itself. "I'm so sorry," he gasped one last time as tears streamed down his blistered cheeks._

Steve was instantly awake and flying to Danny's bedside with the first "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Danny, I'm here," Steve stood aghast, his arms hovering over his friend, afraid to touch him for fear he would hurt him further. The blisters and redness were still too raw to be touched, leaving Steve with little he could do except talk to Danny with a calm, firm voice. He knew he wasn't doing much good, though, as all the bells and whistles on the machines Danny was hooked up to went into hyper drive at the same moment.

The night nurse scurried into the room within seconds of the start of the cacophony. She gave Steve a hard look and asked, "What happened here," as she assessed the readings on the machines.

"I don't know!" Steve was perspiring from the shock of waking up to his partner's distress. "He was sound asleep, then, all at once he was thrashing around on the bed and sobbing. I…I…don't know what happened."

"Keep talking to him, his BP seems to be going down while you're talking." The nurse monitored his vitals while Steve continued to tell Danny that he was okay and that he had his back.

Eventually, Danny quieted, and his condition returned to its previous state. Steve was thoroughly shaken by the ordeal. He staggered into the bathroom and splashed some cool water on his face. Coming back into the room, he confronted the nurse on her way out.

"Is he okay," he asked?

The nurse chose her words carefully, knowing the temper of the man blocking her exit from the room.

"Detective Williams had a nightmare, I believe. A particularly vivid one, at that. It's not uncommon for people under sedation to hallucinate. Some patients who are recovering from surgery or replacement therapy, have even hallucinated dancing pink elephants outside their 5th story windows. It's nothing to worry about Commander. I'll make a note in his chart about the Lorazepam."

With nothing more than a "huh" in response, Steve stepped aside for the nurse to leave. He wandered back over to Danny's bed, picked up his partner's hand, and tried to imagine what his dream had been about. Grace is certainly at the middle of all this. Steve knew Danny had been calling out to Grace.

 _Slowly, he became aware of sounds, a slow, steady beep…beep…beep, coming from someplace over his left shoulder. A soft breath…no, make that a definite snore, emanating from near his right ear. Footsteps, close, but not too close, coming towards him and then away from him. And then, smells; first, antiseptic cleanser, overshadowing a faint scent of sickness, quickly followed by an overpowering aroma of coffee and eggs causing his stomach to flip. Finally, permeating the air around him and blocking off all the other scents, the odor of something burnt._

 _Fear simultaneously initiates his sympathetic nervous system and his adrenal-cortical system, causing his body to speed up, his heart to beat faster and his blood pressure to rise. His hypothalamus releases 30 different hormones into his bloodstream to prepare him to deal with the implied threat, and suddenly, Danny is wide awake and sitting straight up in bed. Turning his head to find where the burning smell is coming from, Danny soon realizes that he is not seeing anything. There's light, but no shapes, nothing to focus on._

 _"What's burning? Why can't I see anything? Where the hell am I, anyway?" Danny is completely confused now, and "flight" is about to win over "fight." He tries to swing his legs to the side, getting tangled in what must be sheets, which unreasonably frightens him even more. Unable to fully comprehend what was happening to him, he instinctively cries out for the one person he knows is always there when he's needed._

 _Steve!"_

Once again, a thoroughly groggy Steve was rudely awakened from a deep sleep he'd somehow managed to fall into. Wondering where he was and what had awoken him, Danny chose that same moment to frantically attempt to extricate himself from the bed.

"Jeez, Danny, what are you doing? Take it easy buddy, you're okay." This time, Steve did wrap his arms around Danny's torso, as gently as he could, to keep him from falling off the side of the bed. Danny tried to wrangle his way free from the thing keeping him from making his get away, but soon lost what little energy, and breath, he had left to struggle. He sagged against the solid form, warm and strangely comforting, his body suddenly deplete of the adrenalin he'd just spent on his attempt to flee. The familiar arms around his body, and the well-known scent of aftershave and deodorant, immediately calmed him as he realized his partner was by his side.

Steve gently laid Danny back onto the bed, positioning the pillow under his head and adjusting the oxygen mask back into place. Once again the nurse, this time the day nurse, as the shift had changed an hour before, traipsed into the room to see what the commotion was about. She read Danny's vitals, checked the intravenous lines sending fluids and medication into his bloodstream, and wrote a few numbers down on his chart hanging from the foot of his bed.

Smiling from ear to ear, Nurse Kalani intoned, "Well, Detective Williams, good morning! It's a glorious day out and on a scale of one to ten how are you feeling?"

Steve almost barked out his exasperation, but recalling Dr. Gardener's comment last night about his reputation at Tripler, he begrudgingly tuned his response back a notch. "I don't think he's feeling too good at all, at the moment, nurse. When will his doctor be in?"

"Steve, it's okay, I… I think I can speak for myself, buddy." Danny rasped out the short sentence before succumbing to a racking coughing fit. Once it subsided, Danny tried to talk again, "Throat's on fire…water?"

Oh, I'm so sorry Detective. You'll have to wait for your doctor to arrive. She'll want to evaluate your condition herself before we can give you anything to drink." Kalani patted Danny's arm and turned to leave the room.

Steve was appalled. "Wait a minute, here, can't he at least have some ice chips?"

Kalani looked over her shoulder on her way out, "Nope. Not even ice chips. Not until Dr. Gardener sees him."

 _"Well, shit."_

"Why can't I see anything, Steve?"

Steve's attention was immediately drawn back to his partner. "You have gauze over your eyes, Danno. It's just to keep them protected."

"Oh! Okay, that's good, I guess." Danny wheezed out.

"Take it easy, okay? Just relax. Do you remember anything about what happened last night, buddy?"

"I do. Damn cakes."

Steve snorted, glad to hear the snark in Danny's voice. "Grace said something about baking cakes, but I honestly couldn't imagine you baking anything beyond reheating day-old pizza."

"Ha. Funny guy." Danny paused for another cough, tears leaking from under the gauze covering his eyes. Steve wanted to wipe them away, but was afraid to touch Danny's blistered face and cause him more pain.

After a few minutes of silence, Danny tried to continue, but all he could get out was Grace's name.

"She's fine, Danno. I had Lou take her home with him last night. I knew I was going to stay here, and I thought she'd need a good bed and some hot food. She didn't need to hang around here." He hoped that would satisfy Danny's daddy complex for the moment.

Danny simply nodded his approval; it was just too much for him to try to talk any longer. His throat was sore beyond words, and he needed to concentrate on making every breath count. As he lay there, his body started to come alive with sensations, none of which were pleasant. He realized the skin on his face and neck felt uncomfortably tight, as if stretched to the point of splitting. He could sense the heat coming off of his body, not like a fever but like the worst sunburn he'd ever had. Once again, the smell of something burnt reached his nostrils. His whole body shivered with the realization that he'd done some major damage with his baking escapade.

"Hello, Doc."

Good morning, Commander. I understand you spent the night with us."

"Of course."

Danny was aroused from his thoughts by his partner's voice. He didn't recognize who he was talking to, though, and was startled when he felt a soft, cool hand on his arm.

"Good morning, Detective Williams, I'm Doctor Gardener. Can you tell me, on a scale of one to ten, how much pain you're feeling?"

It was just too much for him to try to talk, so he raised 5 fingers, and then 3 more.

"Good, Detective. I imagine if you tell me 8, it's closer to 10. We'll get you on some intravenous pain meds soon."

Danny really wished he could see this disembodied voice. It was calm and soothing, managing to take the edge off his frazzled nerves. Turning his head towards her voice, he listened to her continue to discuss his injuries and their course of treatment.

"So, after Dr. Sung, the ophthalmologist examines you, the nurses will come in and give you a long, cool shower. "

Danny nodded his head in understanding, having digested the fact that he had, in fact, been very lucky, then ground out, "Water?"

Dr. Gardener, taken aback by the question, tried to assured Danny, "Yes, of course, Detective, there will be water in the shower?"

Steve wanted to laugh out loud, would have, if he didn't think that would be unfair to Danny. He did decide to let the good doctor off the hook, though, since his friend wasn't capable of his usual verbosity.

"No, Doc, Danny needs something to drink. The nurse wouldn't give him anything until you had examined him."

"Oh, for heavens' sake, I'm sorry Detective, of course. Let's start with some ice chips and see how it feels."

It felt wonderful! Danny sighed in relief as the cool liquid slid down his parched throat. Giving the doctor a thumbs up, he helped himself to more ice while Steve walked out of the room with Dr. Gardener.

"So? How is he, Doc?" Steve had stepped in front of the doctor as they left Danny's room.

"He's doing well. I'm quite pleased." Dr. Kacy Gardener responded with a smile.

"Really? Because he looks awful to me, and if having nightmares, thrashing around half the night, struggling just to breathe, is doing fine, well, we have a very different idea of what fine is, Doc!" Steve was upset. How could this person stand there and tell him his partner was doing well and she was pleased? In no way would he agree with that statement!

Dr. Gardener once again had to attempt to figure out the man blocking her way down the hall. She observed his posture – erect and powerful. His feet were firmly planted on the floor hip width apart, with his arms folded across his chest, which was thrust out in a belligerent pose. The muscles in his neck were actually popping out and his jaw looked as if it was wired shut. He was as intimidating as anyone in, well, basketball shorts and an incredibly old sleeveless NAVY tee shirt could look!

But it was his eyes that gave it away. They were wide open to the point of showing a large amount of white circling the pupils, which were dilated to the point of appearing almost completely black and limpid. His eyes revealed to Dr. Gardener this man's vulnerability. He was scared; not for himself, obviously, but for the man in the hospital bed.

 _"What an interesting relationship these two must have,"_ she mused _._ Well, she'd have to save that thought for another time, as Commander McGarrett obviously needed some reassurance before he'd allow her to continue on her rounds.

"Commander, you must realize that Detective Williams is doing well, all things considered! He is breathing on his own without needing intubation, and that's a big deal. I was most concerned last night with the possibility of having to put him on a respirator, but since his oxygen readings are stable with just the help of the oxygen mask, I'm satisfied that he'll heal easily. Granted, he's suffering from a somewhat swollen esophagus right now, making him work harder for his breath, but the steroids will start to alleviate the swelling soon. His throat is also very sore, another normal response to his injury. It will improve with time."

"What about the nightmares. They seemed so intense." Steve had unknowingly softened his stance, shifting his weight from side to side, relaxing his muscles. His voice returned to a more natural tenor. What Dr. Gardener was saying was hitting its intended mark, yet Steve still had questions.

"Well, I'm sorry to say those were partially my fault. It's to be expected that when one has a catastrophic accident, one's psyche will remember it in a time of deep sleep, causing the patient to relive the experience with all its feelings and emotions. Now, when one is under sedation, certain classes of sedatives can cause those dreams to morph into incredibly frightful nightmares or delusions. Detective Williams seems to be susceptible to this kind of reaction. I'm very sorry he suffered through some horrific nightmares, but, he was certainly fortunate to have someone he was intimately familiar with there to ground him and help him to feel safe," Dr. Gardener murmured.

Steve turned bright red, broke eye contact with the doctor and stared at a particularly small bit of dirt on the corridor floor. "He's my partner, Doc. I'd give my life for him in a heartbeat, and I know he'd do the same for me…has, in fact. You probably don't understand, it's a guy thing, I guess."

"No, Commander, it's not a "guy" thing. It's a "human" thing. It's the way humankind is wired. When someone we care deeply about is put in imminent danger, our need to protect jumps to the forefront of our brains and we act, usually without thinking of the consequences to ourselves, to do what we can to save our loved one. I suspect, in your line of work, Commander, you must have a particularly strong sense of devotion to mankind in order to do what you do on a daily basis. It makes sense to me that you, and the others on your team, share this human instinct to protect one another from harm. The more you get to know someone, the more you care about that person, either as a friend or a partner, the more you will risk your own self to protect."

And just like that, Dr. Gardener explained much about why SEALS, other active military units, and officers of the law, go about continuing to do what they do so well. Steve smiled, his eyes returning to their usual warmth.

"Thanks, Doc. You sure you're not a shrink?"

Dr. Gardener threw back her head and gave a hearty laugh. "Dead sure on that one, Commander. My psych rotation is best forgotten! I'll check back in on Detective Williams this afternoon."

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After a most delectable lunch consisting of cold beef broth and Jell-O, Danny was completely wiped out. The eye specialist had arrived shortly after Doc Gardener's exam, and much to everyone's delight, he had announced that Danny's eyes would heal just fine. As to be expected, the lids were still swollen and weepy, but there did not appear to be any damage to the retina. There was no further need for bandages, although it would take a day or two for Danny's eyelids to open readily, so for the immediate future, he still couldn't see. But that was okay, because it was a good excuse to fain sleep so his partner would quit his ridiculous pacing!

He'd also had his shower. Immediately after the eye doctor's departure, two native Hawaiian CNAs came in to assist him.

"I can do this perfectly fine all by myself, you know! I have been doing it alone for 35 years!" Danny had indignantly ranted. When, as a four-year-old, he'd got tired of sharing the bathtub with Mattie, he'd convinced his mom he could wash behind his own ears. Unfortunately, that didn't work with his new caregivers.

"Sure you can, Detective Williams, but we need to start removing the burnt skin. It will be much more comfortable under running water."

"Well, doesn't this just sound exciting?" Danny had croaked. "Let's get it over with."

Slathered with antibiotic cream from the top of his head, over his neck, down his arms and across his chest, Danny was finally ready to be left alone for a while. The oxygen mask had been replaced with a nasal cannula, and the IV stand was changed out for oral meds.

He finally had time to think about what had happened the night before, reliving the explosion, the resulting smoke. With that came the overwhelming sense of gratitude that Grace had not been hurt, and that she'd actually played a major role in his rescue. Forgotten were the argument they had had, and her snooty behavior. He smiled contentedly, anxious to see his daughter now and tell her how proud he was of the way she had handled the situation.

"What's the smile for, Danno?" Steve had just walked back in the room from phoning his team with the news that Danny was on the road to recovery. He was concerned, though, with Lou's report that Grace had not come down from her room for breakfast. Renee had tried to talk with her, but she hadn't opened up at all to any of the Grover clan. It was worrisome, and Steve knew his time to get to the bottom of it all was short. He was positive Danny would want to see Grace this afternoon.

Sure enough, the first words out of Danny's mouth were, "Can you bring Grace over later on?"

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	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Grace peeked out from behind the sheer lace curtains of her room on the second floor of the Grover home. She had heard the sound of a truck door slam; had been expecting it all day. Upon confirmation that it was indeed Uncle Steve who had just arrived, Grace turned away from the window and shot a glance around the room, looking for a way to avoid the upcoming encounter. Realizing her temporary room had a door leading into the bathroom, she ducked into the safe haven and locked herself in.

'I've gotten nowhere with her, Steve. I mean, she's been polite and all, but she hasn't eaten anything and prefers to stay in her room, _"if it's all right with you."_ Well, it's not all right with me, but I can understand that I might be a little intimidating for her. She doesn't know me that well. My kids know I'm a big teddy bear, but…"

Steve released a perplexed sigh. "It's okay, Lou, it's not you. Something happened last night between Danny and Grace that I haven't figured out. Danny and I haven't had a chance to talk much yet, but Grace was terrified; too scared to see him. I thought it was just the trauma of the accident, but…there's gotta be more to it. I've never known her to hide out and avoid contact before. Can you show me where she's at?"

Steve squared his shoulders and prepared for battle, even though he wasn't quite sure how one prepares for a confrontation with a thirteen-year-old girl. He had a feeling his SEAL training wasn't going to help him much with this engagement. Putting on his best "lovable uncle" face, Steve knocked gently on the bedroom door.

"Grace?" Hey, Gracie, it's Uncle Steve. I'd like to see you, give you an update on Danno. Can I come in?"

A muffled, "No. Go away," reached Steve's ears, causing him to pause and reexamine the situation. This was going to be harder than he thought, but he needed to take action. Licking his lips, he gave himself a slight nod of encouragement, and opened the door. "Grace, I'm coming in. We have to talk." He strode into the bedroom, stopping at the center, and pivoting 360 degrees. To his surprise, the room was empty. The pink bedspread was rumpled, but that was the only indication that anyone had even been in there.

"Gracie? Where are you?" An indistinct sound reached his ears from behind the closed door leading into what he imagined must be the bathroom. To his surprise, though, when he managed to unlock the door with the help of his pocket knife, expecting to find his niece, he instead discovered the bathroom window over the stool, wide open, lace curtain flapping in the Hawaiian trade wind.

 _Jeez, Danny! I'm chasing after your daughter as if she's a perp at a crime scene! What the hell happened last night?"_ Steve leaped out of the open second floor window, landing easily on the gently sloping roof of the house's veranda, following Grace's own escape route. Prepared to give chase to the girl he had himself trained for the Governor's fitness award, Steve slid off the veranda and came around the front of the house at full speed. He was stopped in his tracks, though, by the sight before him – a rather grim-looking Grover with his arm around a most unhappy, defiant, Grace.

When Grace looked up at Steve, she read the puzzlement and concern on his face. Just as she had the night before in the hospital, the young girl, wrung out from worrying all night about her father, finally gave in to her emotions. She ran hard at her uncle, almost bowling Steve over as she threw herself into his barely outstretched arms, sobbing out: "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! He'll never forgive me!"

Steve found himself sitting on the couch with Grace in the Grover living room. He had managed to get her calmed down enough to walk inside, where Renee immediately handed her a bottle of juice.

"My goodness, child, you look completely done in! I'm going to fix you a sandwich." Throwing an exasperated look at her towering husband, standing in the middle of the room with his hands on his hips, and a deep scowl on his face, Renee threw a quick request his way. "Lou, I can use your help."

Startled out of his unintentionally overbearing glare, Lou sputtered, "What? Why? You know how to make sandwiches by yourself…Oh."

Renee had given him the "You will do as I say and you will do it now look." Grover had seen it many times over the course of their married life and he knew you did not argue with the "look." He promptly followed Renee out of the living room, giving Steve the freedom to discuss Grace's unaccountable behavior since he'd first found her in the hospital chair the night before.

Uncle and niece sat together in silence for what stretched into minutes. Steve thought giving Grace a chance to calm down would eventually lead her to ask about her father. He was wrong. The silence eventually became uncomfortable, especially since Grace refused to look his way. She sat ramrod straight, both legs held tightly together with her feet primly anchored to the floor. Her hands were clutched so hard in her lap that she was white-knuckled. Her features, on the other hand, were blank. She looked straight ahead at the clock ticking on the opposite wall with dull eyes, and expressionless lips turned down slightly at the corners. It looked, for all the world, as if she was waiting for the axe to drop and end her life as she knew it.

Steve was unnerved. He didn't have the slightest idea how to approach Grace without possibly causing irreparable damage.

" _Dammit, Danny, what am I supposed to do? Maybe I should have told you about Grace this morning. Maybe I should have been around when Mary was a teenager, I might have had an idea of how to deal with this!"_

"Does he hate me?"

Steve was flung out of his reverie by those four words spoken in barely a whisper. When he looked over at Grace, one single tear was sliding down her cheek – the only outward change in her demeanor.

"Of course he doesn't hate you, Grace, why would you even think that, sweetheart?" Grace had been stuck on the thought that her father must hate her ever since Steve first found her in the hospital corridor. It was time for him to end this. He pried her stiff hands apart, and grasping both of them in his own, he looked at her intently until she finally returned the gaze.

"Grace, let me tell you how your father is doing." He could feel her body tense through her hands. He heard her sharp intake of breath. She was preparing for the worst, but Steve knew what he had to tell her would change her fear to joy.

Steve smiled warmly at her and gave her hands a little shake. "Hey, Grace, it's okay. Your dad is going to be fine. He looks a little funky at the moment, but he'll heal. That's where we come in, right? Nursing him back to health? Why don't we go see him right now? I know he wants to see you."

There! Steve had said the right things, he was sure. Everything would be fine. He stood up, expecting the usually exuberant Grace to jump up and run to the door. When it didn't happen, Steve sat back down on the couch.

"Grace?"

"See me? What about his eyes. He's blind, isn't he!

"Is that what you've been worried about? That he was going to be blind?" Realizing that that had been his exact same fear earlier, Steve thought he was finally beginning to understand Grace's heartache.

"His eyes were shut. They were swollen so big he couldn't open them, couldn't see me, but he kept asking me if I was okay. Why was he worrying about me?"

Steve was confused. "Well, Grace, of course he was worried about you, especially since he couldn't see for himself that you were okay. He's your father, you know."

"But he's blind! He won't see Charlie grow up! He won't be able to coach him in baseball or football! He's going to have to have someone take care of him forever, and he won't be able to be on Five-0 anymore. Of course he hates me!"

Grace was shouting and crying at the same time, lashing out at Steve with her fists. She seemed furious that he hadn't managed to figure it out for himself.

Steve grabbed a hold of her arms and gave her a little shake. "Grace! Grace, stop." She was strong, given how petite she was, and continued to try to throw punches at him until, finally, Steve just wrapped his arms around her torso and held her close until her trembling body gave up and she melted into his chest.

They were sitting like that, holding each other close, when Renee came into the room carrying a tray of sandwiches. She set them down on the coffee table, and silently backed out of the room.

Steve took the opportunity to break the intensity of the moment. "Hey, these sandwiches look good! I'm starved. Want one?"He asked as he bit into a chicken salad. Grace looked up, shrugged, accepting the sandwich offered to her. They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes.

"I didn't want to be with Danno this weekend." Grace had finished half of her sandwich before she started talking. "It's the first big football game of the year, and my friends had invited me to go to all these fun things, and I really wanted to go, but I knew Danno wouldn't let me. Sometimes, I get so tired of having a police officer for a dad. He thinks everything is dangerous and going to end up bad," Grace sighed as she took another bite of her food. "I guess I was sulking pretty badly."

Surprisingly, Steve understood completely. For the first 15 years of his life, he lived with a cop for a father, too. There were many times, especially in high school, where his father actually vetted his friends and their families before letting him spend the weekend, or go to a party. It's not easy, or comfortable, having a cop for a parent, but what Steve realized in this moment, was just how difficult it is to be a good cop and a good father, too. In their line of work, Danny was put routinely into situations that ordinary police officers rarely, if ever encounter. They've seen children kidnapped and murdered, they've found the remains of victims of violent death, and seen the ravages of drug abuse in young lives. It has to be unquestionably hard for someone of Danny's paternal nature to go home at night and not be scared to death to let his children out of his sight, and yet not be a completely smothering parent at the same time.

Steve settled into eating a second sandwich as Grace continued, "I was giving Danno a hard time after I found out my friend's mom couldn't bake her special Bundt cakes for our class bake sale today. I mean, I know it wasn't his fault, but I acted like it was. I kind of took it out on him. He decided he would bake the cakes himself, to make me happy."

Grace looked up at Steve with a tiny smile, and shrugged, "Danno doesn't really know how to bake."

Steve came very close to spitting his sandwich out, "Oh, you're not telling me anything I don't already know, Gracie!" Uncle and niece shared a moment of simple camaraderie together, both knowing the man they were discussing very well.

"I don't really know what happened in the kitchen, Uncle Steve," Grace continued. "We…uh…we had a disagreement. I was so mad... and I kinda ran off into my room. The next thing I knew, I heard Danno yell my name and when I came out I saw smoke coming from the kitchen. When I ran to the door and looked in, I saw smoke and flames coming out of the oven. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and put out the flames. When I saw him sitting on the floor next to the stove, I was so scared because Danno looked so bad, and then when he couldn't see, but kept asking me if I was okay… I was fine. He shouldn't have been worrying about me," Grace sadly shook her head.

"Grace, you were spectacular, you know that? If you hadn't kept your cool, the whole house might have burned down, and we could have lost your dad. Whatever happened before the fire doesn't matter, because you're okay, and you were there to save him. That's all that's going to matter." Steve gave Grace another hug. "What do you say we go see him now?"

Grace looked up at Steve once again. There was fear in her eyes, but Steve could see she was ready this time.

"Okay," she said, "let's go."

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"Remind me to never, ever, ask you to bake anything for me, brah! A Bundt cake is not worth burning down my kitchen!"

Steve and Grace rounded the corner of the hospital corridor in time to hear Kono's gentle ribbing, and Chin's happy chuckle, emanating from Danny's room.

A raspy-sounding Danny assured Kono it was not likely to happen anytime soon, his Neanderthal partner undoubtedly would keep him from even looking at an oven.

Steve smiled brightly at Grace, as they stopped outside, noticing she had gotten more withdrawn as they got closer to her father's room. He worried that she was getting scared about facing Danny again. "Are you ready, Grace? It's going to be fine, you know."

"Yeah, I know, Uncle Steve." Taking a deep breath, straightening her spine to look more like the cool and confident president of her 8th grade class, Grace pushed open the hospital door and walked into her father's room.

"Hey, Dad. How's it going?"

The room stilled, everyone taken aback by the rather nonchalant attitude of the young girl the team knew had always idolized her father.

"Grace! Are you okay, baby? I'm glad you're here. Come and give me a hug." Danny, still unable to see much out of his swollen slits, didn't pick up on the tension in the room, as happy as he was to have Grace with him.

"Well, I didn't have much choice. Uncle Steve told me I had to come see you and I missed the football game, anyway."

The smile on Danny's cracked lips faltered just a bit. Steve's scowl deepened in puzzlement. The cousins were outright shocked. No one quite knew what to make of the situation.

"Grace…? Steve began, a touch of caution in his voice.

She threw him a look of daggers and proceeded to flounce down on the edge of her father's bed.

"You did it this time, Dad. Mom's not ever going to let you have Charlie stay over now!"

"All right, that's it, young lady…apol…," Steve couldn't believe the change that had taken over Grace. He hadn't seen this one coming at all, and he was trying to set his niece straight, when Danny interrupted him.

"It's okay, Steve. Uh…would you guys mind giving Grace and I a little time alone, please?"

"Sure, Danny. No problem, brah. You heal up, and we'll see you soon." Chin ushered a stupefied Kono towards the door, giving Steve a little nod to follow.

Steve didn't want to go, but he realized it was the right thing to do. His partner knew his daughter better than anyone, and he would know how to handle this situation. He just hoped Danny was strong enough, at the moment, to take on this two-headed teenage monster!

Heading out the door, he turned and spoke directly to Grace, "I'll wait for you in the lobby, Grace. Take as long as you need."

"Thanks, Steve." Danny sighed, taking a small sip from the cup of water he had been holding. He waited until he heard the door slide completely shut, and they were alone.

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	7. Chapter 7

A/N: sorry for the delay, the Season 7 premiere and all the SOTB excitement took over and I honestly forgot to post! I apologize for not personally answering comments this time around, but I enjoy reading every one.

I hope you like the way Danny talks things out with Grace. I know she's a little over the top, but that's just the way she developed in my mind when writing this story. I do have 2 grown daughters and a son, so I drew from experience.

Enjoy! And thanks again for sticking with me here!

CHAPTER 7

"You can stop with the tough act, Grace. I can't really see you right now, but I know you, and I know when you're scared. I don't know why you think you have to put on this front, but it's not going to work. Not with me. And I really need a hug from you, baby."

If Danny could have seen it just then, he would have known he'd hit the nail on the head. It was all an act on Grace's part. She tried to stay aloof, keeping up the "cool girl" front, but the longer her father quietly sat there with his arms outstretched for her, the more her veneer cracked, little rivulets of tears starting to stream down her cheeks. Finally, she gave up, melting slowly into her father's embrace.

Danny's strong, warm arms wrapped around her, and she felt the unconditional love pouring off of her beloved father and bathing her in comfort. He didn't say a word. He just let his love flow.

She knew then, beyond a doubt, that no one would ever love her as purely or as unconditionally as her father. And she realized, too, that taking out her frustrations on her father the way she had this past weekend, was just not right or fair, but no matter how poorly she might behave, he would accept her for who she was.

"Oh, Danno, I'm sorry I acted like I did," she breathed into his chest, "I love you so much."

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"Steve! I thought you'd be in with Danny." Lou walked down the hall towards Steve, having returned to the hospital to check on Danny. "What are you sitting out here in the waiting room for?" Lou looked hard at Steve, noticing the deeply etched worry lines in his friend's forehead. "Is everything okay?"

An hour had passed since Steve had left Grace and Danny alone. There hadn't been a peep from the room, and he was at odds with himself. He really wanted to go back in and give Grace a piece of his mind for acting like a brat. On an ordinary day, he'.d have just left Danny to deal with his daughter, after all Danny was her dad and it was his job to raise her, but considering his compromised condition, Steve was just plain worried about his partner's ability to cope was a truculent teenager.

"Danny wanted to be alone with Grace for a while," he told Lou.

"Oh, well that makes sense…"

"She went loopy again, Lou, acting like she couldn't care less about Danny, put out that her weekend had been ruined by his accident in the kitchen. I've never seen her like that, she was a real brat!

"Okay, well, she's a teenager… and a female one, at that," Lou nodded knowingly.

Steve looked at Lou at if he was nuts. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that the young lady is trying to figure out who she is and what she wants to be. Trust me, a father's life is pure misery until his daughter works it all out. There's just no understanding them, and best not to even try, just to keep on guiding them towards what you want them to become, and loving them."

"Well, if this is what it's like, I want no part of it! No wonder Dad sent Mary off to Aunt Deb when she reached her teen years. If I ever have kids, they better be boys."

Lou gave out a hearty guffaw, drawing stares from the nursing staff situated down the hall. "Yeah, it's tough, but when all is said and done, my baby girl is the light of my life and I'll take her any way I can get her. I have a bet Danny feels the same way about Grace."

"You do not have to spend the night here, Steve. I'm fine!" Danny was wiped out and a little irritated with his partner for not going home and getting some rest himself.

"I know, buddy, but I…ah… just need to make sure you won't have any more nightmares." Steve knew his partner was going to wonder why he wasn't leaving. Lou had taken Grace back home with him for another night, this time with her promise to eat a good supper and get some real sleep. She seemed more like her usual self, and Steve was very relieved to see that.

But now he wanted to just spend some time with his partner.

"You go ahead and sleep, Danno. I'll just sit here awhile."

"Okay, buddy. Oh, and thanks." Danny's eyes had already closed.

"Thanks? For what?" Steve didn't feel he'd done anything worthy of thanks, but Danny was already fast asleep and never heard the question.

Danny woke up with a start. His head was pounding and his chest was tight. He could still see the flames shooting out at his face. The smoke was smothering him! He felt his heart clamoring away in his chest. And his eyes! He couldn't see!

Slowly, ever so slowly, the dream faded. He took a few deep breaths, and realized there was no smoke in the air. He moved his head around to stretch out the kink in his neck and, incredibly, his eyes started to focus on shapes. The room was still dark, obviously it was the middle of the night, but he noticed light coming from underneath what must be the door out to the hospital corridor. Cautiously, he shifted his gaze again, and found a red button on what must be a machine alongside his bed. He could finally open his eyes enough to see!

Danny's sigh of relief upset Steve's slumber just enough for him to shift his uncomfortable position in the arm chair, but not enough to completely wake the exhausted man. The sleeping form shifted his head and let out a snort and a gasp of sorts, then sunk back into a deep sleep.

Danny was awake enough himself now to realize the lumpy form in the chair next to him was his partner. As his eyes started to adjust to the ambient light in the room, he had a good opportunity to just observe Steve's sleeping form, relishing in the fact that he could actually see him.

Danny had to chuckle. His partner's legs were stretched out straight in front of him on the floor, while his butt was about to slide off the chair seat. Steve's long arms were dangling down either side of the chair. His neck was jammed over the back and kinked to one side. His face was slack, with just a smidge of drool trailing down his chin.

" _Oh, this is beautiful! Where's my phone when I need it? I could use a new blackmail portrait."_ Danny just lay quietly for a while, thinking how lucky he was to have a brilliant daughter, and a partner who was also his best friend. He was breathing much easier now than yesterday, and his skin felt less tight. If he held his own through the morning, Dr. Gardener had promised him he could go home after lunch. Well, he certainly intended to behave so he could get out of this place – he'd spent too many long hauls in hospital beds for his liking.

His thoughts shifted to Grace. They had had a heart to heart that afternoon after Grace had finally given in to her fears for her dad. She told him how scared she was about the new school year, and about being class president. She didn't know if she had it in her to do a good job. She admitted that she didn't know if she wanted to be a leader, but she did like being popular! She told him how her mother seemed pleased that she was popular in school, and encouraged her to put herself out there more so as to get noticed.

Danny had nodded knowingly. Being popular and important came naturally for Rachel, and she wanted her daughter to be just like her. She expected Grace to use her looks, and her brains, to get whatever she wanted out of life, and if someone got in the way of what she wanted, it would be okay to toss them aside.

But Grace was also a Williams. She had a deeply compassionate side to her, and she knew it was just plain right to be nice to people, and wrong to take advantage of them. That was why she had been so conflicted the last month or so. She didn't really know who she should be - the popular girl standing on a pedestal - until she fell off, which, as her dad told her, usually happens - or the sweet, caring, loving young lady who was not the one asked to all the parties, but the one everyone wanted on their team.

When she told him how sorry she was that because of her behavior that night, Danny had been hurt so badly, he tried to brush it off.

" _Pfft. It's nothing, baby. I really should take some cooking lessons. It's not your fault at all."_

" _No, Danno, it IS my fault. I was wrapped up in my own world, wanting to do what I wanted, not thinking about how I was ruining our weekend together. I know how much you look forward to spending time with Charlie and me. You wanted to be part of my homecoming weekend, so you were angry when I didn't want you to, and I hurt your feelings. I was wrong to behave that way, and you got hurt because I was being selfish."_

 _Grace stopped talking for a second, then, sighing, she continued in a more tremulous voice, "You get hurt a lot with your job, Danno, and I know there might come a time when you won't come back to me. But you keep doing it because you know you are doing what's right. You've always told me you do what you do to protect me from all the bad people. I know you do it to protect everyone, not just me. I'm so proud of you for doing that, and I hate it that you got hurt doing something that I selfishly wanted just so I could be popular."_

 _Danny was dumbstruck. When did this child of his become so grown up? He had always tried to protect her from the dangers of his job, playing down his injuries as much as possible so she wouldn't be afraid. He was doing that again with Charlie who was still so little. But it was time for him to acknowledge that Grace was mature enough to understand what he did, and why he did it, and accept the possible outcome of one too many cases._

" _Grace, thank you. It means a lot to me that you were able to tell me how you feel about me doing my job. I promise I will always try my hardest to come home to you. You have to believe that you and Charlie are the two most important people in my life, and that for as long as I am able, I will move mountains to keep you safe. I love you, Grace."_

" _Love you, too, Danno."_

 _By the way, Uncle Steve deserves a big apology, as well, don't you think, Grace?_

 _"Yes, Danno."_

"Danny?" Steve had woken himself up when his head had flopped further over the side of the head rest. Glancing towards his partner as he shifted his position, he noticed Danny was awake and looking out the hospital window.

"You doing okay, buddy?"

Danny turned his gaze on his best friend, happily aware that this was one person who would always worry about him. He had his children, and he had this goof. Life was good.

"I'm doing great, Steve."

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EPILOGUE

The following Saturday was another spectacular day in paradise. The sun was shining as the trade winds blew a gentle breeze over the azure water, cooling down the temperatures to a comfortable low eighties.

The Five-0 bake sale was in full swing at the entrance to the football stadium at Grace's school. Spirits ran high as the Eighth grade cheering squad hawked freshly baked goods to everyone entering to watch the two football teams continue their rivalry.

Grace was in her glory. "This is even better than it would have been last week, Danno! We're going to make so much money!"

"Thank your Uncle Steve, Grace. It was his idea. Who would have thought the big bad SEAL had baking skills, too!"

Danny, perched in a comfortable camp chair in the shade, looked for all the world like a pink lizard shedding its scales due to the healing taking place on his face and chest. He fondly glanced over at his team. Not only was Steve present, and nearly overrun with thirteen and fourteen year old girls giggling and taking selfies with the island's gorgeous top law enforcement officer, but Kono and Adam, Chin and Abbie, Lou and Renee, Max, Kamekona, Flippa and even Eric had all brought baked goods to sell, and were mingling with the kids and their parents.

Steve had come up with the notion to help Grace save…well…grace, with her classmates! He had brought up the idea when they were driving Danny home from the hospital. His niece had been a little despondent in the car, and it was obvious she was thinking about how her classmates were going to react to the fact that, in their eyes, she had ditched them. Steve might not know much about teenage girls, but he did know about being ostracized because your dad was a cop. Maybe it was time for Grace's classmates to find out a little about the Governor's elite task force that her father was such an important component of.

" _Grace, what do you think about Five-0 putting on a bake sale fundraiser at your next home football game?" Steve asked._

 _Danny and Grace looked over at Steve at the same time. "What?" Danny questioned. "Why?" he continued._

" _Well, Grace's class needs to make some money to put on that Homecoming dance, and Five-0 needs to work on some community outreach. Catch two birds with one stone. Right, Grace?" Steve smiled brightly at his niece, and was gratified to see her return his grin with one of her own._

" _That would be awesome, Uncle Steve! The next game is this Saturday. I'll talk it over with my class advisor tomorrow."_

 _Danny didn't say a word. He just looked over his daughter's head, and while smiling too, gave his best friend a pleased nod._

The kitchen had been restored and a new stove installed, but Danny stilled smelled smoke whenever he entered the room, half the time sending an involuntary shiver down his spine. He had mentioned the lingering nightmares, and the intensity of his reaction to smoke to Dr. Gardener at his check up. She smiled at him with her almost-ebony eyes, and told him the trauma would stay with him for a while. She again apologized for inadvertently making it worse with the sedatives she'd given him.

"Still, I'm very pleased that you are making such a quick recovery, Detective Williams."

"Danny. You can call me Danny." He didn't quite understand Dr. Gardener's response. She was laughing at him!

"What? My friends call me Danny and I'd like to think we can be friends," he said.

"Oh, of course, Danny!" It's just, well, that's exactly what Commander McGarrett said when you were first brought in to the ER. He must know you very well."

"Yeah, I guess he does," Danny blushed.

" _Oh, yes."_ Doctor Gardener thought to herself _, "There's an interesting story here."_

 **FINIS**

 **A/N: that's all she wrote - hope you enjoyed it! Until the next time, here's to happy trails and much whump!**


End file.
